This is Why Pat Cooks

That's right that is a frozen pizza. One of countless frozen pizzas that I have burnt well passed edibility. I don't know why i keep trying, hoping for a different outcome. I keep thinking that one day my luck will turn, that I'll make a wonderful meal that my family will love (and doesn't stress me out) and forever onward be a great and patient chef. First i need to conquer the frozen pizza though.

Luckily I'm married to a man who isn't just a great cook but doesn't mind that I'm awful. He lucks out in the baking department because I love to bake and i like to think I'm fairly good at it. The same night as the burnt pizza, I tried to lift my spirits with a new recipe i found on the Pioneer Woman Cooks site. It's called Baked Fudge and it is my new favorite thing.

Here is the link to the recipe

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/02/sweets-for-your-sweetie-1-delicious-baked-fudge/

It is delicious and super easy. Definitely give it a try if you really like chocolate as it is basically hot fudge in a bowl. Here is my version, before i put ice cream on top, much better then the whip cream topping that the recipe calls for, but i love hot/cold combinations.

Nolan update

Nolan has learned so much in the last month I'm sure I'm going to leave something out. But here are a few things that Nolan has been perfecting.

He babbles all the time, I think he's telling himself stories because he cracks himself up. He is definitely a talker and I love that he is. He can correctly identify Mama and Dada, although Dada is the only one that he yells at in very high decibels...teehee. He can say hi, bye, yeah, shake his head no, diddy (kitty), nana (banana), and last night i swear i heard him say night night.

He has 8 teeth (2 molars popped up last week). This would explain the extreme fussiness the last few weeks and the frequent night wakings, which are wildly out of character for my little sleeper. Hopefully his teeth will give him and us a bit of a break before the next set come in.

After just 2 physical therapy sessions for a weak midsection, he has gone from a fairly mobile 1 year old to a very active toddler. He is pulling himself up to stand on everything, cruising around on all the furniture, scooting around at lightning speeds and sitting up from any position (the milestone he was most behind). He has even started crawling in a "traditional" way, something that i thought i would never see my boy do and i will hopefully get on video very soon. The crawl is very illusive, as soon as he notices that he is being watched he sits back down and scoots. Who knows maybe he secretly has been crawling all along?

He has gotten through his first stomach flu and cold in the same month(an achievement for us too), and he graciously shared both with me.

I can't wait to see what he does next, but am enjoying this time before he learns to walk as I know those quiet moments will grow fewer and farther between.

Day to Day

Just so you don't think our lives are full of spontaneous trips to Hawaii and chocolate tastings (oh how i wish that were true) I figured I should post what our day to day life is like. We are starting to get into quite the routine, which is pretty funny since no one in this house is very routine minded. We spend a lot of our day just hanging out and playing with our toys. Lately, even more of our time is spent yelling (others would call it whining).

Before you start feeling sorry for him, I want you to know that I have met all his needs and that this yelling is only out of wanting to be held ALL DAY LONG. I think that once he is able to talk, this face will be accompanied with a loud "I'm bored!" Luckily, I have backup, because nothing is more fun then harassing the cats! Cortez was egging him on here though with his tail flicking into his face.

The other go to distraction is snack time. I feel like i spend 3/4 of my day sitting with him at his high chair, but i don't mind at all. Since he is so active it's the only time i can get him to hold still for 10 minutes and it's also where his personality really shines. He sings, babbles, flirts and giggles in that chair.

Since he started finger foods he has really enjoyed sharing his food with me. He takes turns feeding himself and then feeding mama. This is nice when he eats normal things like banana but I'll pass on the collard green flavored cereal.

He especially likes faking me out, where he reaches out to feed me and then pulls it back and takes it for himself, he's such a clown!

This is him today with his new favorite snack, toast with cream cheese. Messy and delicious!

He was reaching out to feed me here and realized that his hand was empty, which really cracked him up.

More Maui

Along for the spontaneous adventure to Maui, my mom (Yaya), granny (Gigi), and Aunt Carolyn (who has yet to come up with a ridiculous nickname) tagged along to soak up some sun and scenery. They did all the fun sightseeing things Maui has to offer while Pat and I sunbathed on beaches, but we did take them up on their offer to take Nolan so that we could do some of our own sightseeing sans baby.

They sent me pictures of their day with our little man, and i think he might have had more fun with them! First there were mirror tricks, which one is the real Nolan!

I'm told in this last one that he was yelling at the other baby because he didn't want to share his hinge. I guess it's time to learn about sharing, even if it is with your reflection.

Then it was off to the beach, they took him to the conveniently named Baby Beach because it's mellow surf is perfect for small kids. He swam with Aunt Carolyn, something this little guy loves to do! I think it was those swimming lessons at 6 months finally paying off. As soon as his feet touch water he is kicking away as I'm sure Aunt Carolyn learned fairly quickly.

Then it was deep conversations with Yaya.

Rounding out their day at the beach with a some more beach scooting.

Taking a quick nap with Gigi.

Many people have asked me how we were able to vacation with Nolan and not pack his entire nursery. Well Maui has 3 baby rental services so at our condo we had a full size crib set up in the second bedroom, but I think it was all about improvising as seen here. Anything can be high chair, a lap ,the floor, or in this case a very contemporary end table. Don't ask me how my mom can sit like that, I was not blessed with her flexibility genes!

Also impressive is this improvised crib on the couch. I have gotten Nolan to sleep with me maybe 3 times so I was very surprised that he slept a full night in this position. I hope Yaya was able to get some sleep too!

Thanks ladies for watching Nolan and sending along these pics! It looks like he had a great time.

Trying New Things

So if you know me even just a little bit you know that I'm a planner and not just because of my profession. I like to plan out every decision and move I make. I research, analyze and read reviews for everything just so I can make sure I get the most from everything, with no regrets. Pat on the other hand is very spontaneous, he likes freedom and spontaneity...words that I fear!

But Pat made a great point a few weeks ago that has stuck with me. He said that we need to show Nolan what it means to be a happy and confident adult and that means not regretting decisions even if...gasp...it wasn't the very best! I'm working my hardest to apply this to our lives, go with the flow and quit questioning everything. Here is an example of how I'm growing.

When Pat threw out an idea that we should go on a vacation this month I said ok thinking it would take us a few weeks to get the time off, figure out where we would want to go and book it. That would give me plenty of time to find the cheapest tickets, plan an itinerary with just enough relaxation and activities, and pack exactly what we would need.

This is how it really happened. The vacation thought started on Monday, February 1. By the end of that day Pat was off of work for the next 10 days. By Tuesday, February 2 I got the week off, the plane tickets were booked, condo reserved and on Wednesday, February 3 we were flying out of SeaTac to beautiful Maui, Hawaii. I didn't even have time to blink let alone plan, question or research!

But when were greeted by 80 degrees, sun and beach I could care less, this was exactly what i needed!

This was the view from our condo, we stayed in West Maui in an area called Kahana. Just south of the most western point of Maui, this area was guaranteed to see the humpbacks on their migration which just so happened to be going on when we were there.

For the first few days i did very little but sit on the lanai and watch the whales swim by, with a few of them really making themselves known. My camera is far from professional but I was able to catch a little bit of this jumpy guy.

Nolan hanging out in the condo, looking like such a big boy!

Pat was a little more adventurous then I and signed up for surf school, here he is at his dry lesson with his instructor "Armadillo", why do I think this isn't his legal name?

Post lesson, very whipped out!

Nolan wanted to check out this surfing thing, he will have to wait though. They start lessons at 3 years old.

The next day we took a drive around the island on one of the scariest and beautiful highways ever. 25% of the trip was on a one way, unpaved street where one side of the street was a sheer drop off into the ocean and the other side a rock wall. It reminded me a lot of the Oregon coast, minus the sideways frozen rain and blinding wind.

We did tons of other stuff, such as running into a Barracuda while snorkeling, visiting an old hippy surfer community and eating tons of local produce. I was so relaxed though that I didn't even think about taking a family picture until the last day so on the way to the airport we pulled off at a beach facing West Maui and got our Hawaiian Family Portrait.

I have tons of pictures of Nolan at the beach since we spent so much time at all the great beaches that Maui has to offer. Here are a few of my favorites.

I decided I would let him sample the sand. I figured he would decide fairly quickly that sand is not delicious. Unfortunately, at this particular beach he couldn't get enough so we took him home to feed him real dinner.

I of course saved the best for last, this one makes me swoon...I'm going to miss his little scoot!

This was definitely one of our best vacations and I did in fact forget to pack some things and I didn't get to do everything I wanted. But I learned 2 things, one being that Hawaii isn't going anywhere and we will definitely be coming back and the other being that maybe Pat should plan our family vacations...oh god I hope he doesn't read this blog!

Weekend Fun!

Do you remember the post about Nolan's first explosive pooh? Well I think I finally had a gross parenting experience to top that. Don't worry there are no photos!
Pat and I realized that Nolan has finally hit that age where we can actually go out in public and Nolan will (most likely) behave himself or at least have fun. So we made a list of activities that we could do as a family. The typical things were on there of course, the zoo, aquarium, museums, etc but we decided that bowling would be an achievable activity that we could do anytime. So Saturday night we went bowling. This was our very first planned family activity.
Nolan wasn't so sure at first, i think the loud bowling noises and 80's music were a little too much for him. After a few minutes he calmed down so we put him in his stroller with a snack, otherwise known as Nolan's Happy Place. We bowled 2 games, Pat kicked my butt per usual and Nolan was doing even better then great, he was PERFECT!
That is until i look over and see that Nolan is throwing up. I don't mean spitting up a little milk or spitting out his snack, like full on, faucet turned to high throwing up. I had no clue what to do. I had been dreading this day since I found out I was pregnant...I hate vomit! I don't think it's too much to ask for a kid that NEVER vomits!
After he threw up what seemed to be 3 times his body weight we went into action. I striped him down, wiped up as much as i could and tried my best not to throw up myself, it was tough though! We immediately drove home and put him in the bath. I figured the worst was behind us as he seemed to be in good spirits, talking, singing and giggling. We did our bedtime routine and put him down, phew! About an hour later he woke up crying so Pat went into check on him. I heard over the monitor Pat pick him up, gasp and Nolan crying again. Nolan had thrown up all over Pat (Thank you God it wasn't me!) and when I walked in Pat was rushing out to rinse off. So we repeated the whole process over again, strip, bath and bed.
I called Nolan's doctor who advised me that it was probably a virus that would work itself out but that I should not let Nolan sleep alone as there is a very small chance that he could throw up again and choke. Well, if you've been around Nolan lately you know he's not much of cuddle-r and he has never been one to sleep well with others. But I was determined to get him to sleep with me so I could keep an eye on him. He actually did surprising well, but I woke up every 30 minutes to check on him. It was a long night!

CHOCOLATE!!

I'm sorry, I am going to veer away from my usual posts about Nolan to discuss my other love... chocolate.

Yesterday, Em and I celebrated her birthday by indulging in the Chocolate indulgence tour hosted by Savor Seattle. I heard about this tour from groupon.com (thanks Jennifer for that referral!). When i got the email about a 2 hour tour of the various chocolatiers of Seattle i booked it right away. The anticipation was worth it as the weather held out, and we had a great time tasting the many varieties of chocolate. I of course took my blogging eye and documented every treat. Here is our tour, sweet after delicious sweet.

Let me start off by introducing you to our super fab tour guide who was the perfect mix of educational, random knowledge (who knew they legalized Absinthe in the U.S.?) and Seattle-ite cooky.

We started off our day at Oliver's with a shot of a chocolaty adult beverage called a flatliner. I can't remember all the ingredients but 151 and espresso beans, but it tasted like a rum-y chocolate shake.

Then we ventured over to Dahlia's Bakery for their not so chocolate but still notable Coconut Cream Pie and super rich chocolate crinkle cookie.

I didn't get a shot of the pie before i ate mine up, but here is Em cheesy posing with the last bite of hers. Let me preface the next picture by saying that Emily had taken 3 other pictures that resulted in my eyes being closed so she told me to keep my eyes open and here's what happened. So flattering!

Our next stop was Caffe D'Arte where they make the fancy coffee drinks, including delicious dark chocolate mochas.

Next stop, the Chocolate Box where tons of different chocolate specialty treats are offered. Our sampling included this chocolate covered brownie that was more like chocolate covered fudge it was so gooey. The picture isn't great but I'm posting it anyways since this was my favorite of the day.

We also had mini cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing. so cute!

We wrapped up this stop with some chocolate gelato with a palate cleansing Lemon Sorbet.

We didn't sample these but i had to snap a picture of these very relevant Obama chocolates. Who doesn't love chocolate that also makes a statement?

It's not a tour of Seattle without a stop at Pike Place Market. I forgot how many great food stops there are in the market since i avoid downtown Seattle and any place with a lot of tourists but we stopped at the Confectional which made it all worth it. They specialize in cheesecakes, and this is where i started to go into a chocolate coma because I cannot remember what is actually in this deliciousness other then chocolate, some sort of fruit and a great crust! I might have to head down there again, despite the tourists to grab some more of this cheesecake.

Still at the Confectional, we had our second shot of the day. This one was alcohol free and called Colombian Drinking Chocolate. It was the consistency of brownie batter, but seasoned with cinnamon and clove. If I wasn't in a coma already this would have surely sent me over the edge, but was so good!

Last stop, Frans Chocolates for the ultimate gourmet chocolate experience. They keep their chocolates in jewelry cases, they mean business!! We tried a bunch of chocolates here, including Emily's favorite of the day, the Chocolate covered caramel with Grey Sea Salt.

There was this mural at Frans that was of Frans' granddaughter. I'm not sure if Fran herself did it but I do remember that it took 94 consecutive hours and over 4,000 chocolates. That is true devotion and a little creepy!

I had such a great time, playing a tourist in my own city and would recommend this tour to anyone that truly loves chocolate, because I consider my self a true choco-holic and by the end i was done with chocolate...at least for the rest of the day.

Happy Birthday Emmie, I love you and hope you had a great day!

Nolan's Birthday!

This last weekend we celebrated Nolan's 1st birthday with family and friends. Being an event planner by profession i of course had to have a theme and it couldn't be something simple. The theme was Reggae Monkey. Reggae since Nolan has loved reggae since he was brand new, it would instantly calm him even during the biggest fits. And monkey because if you have seen his crazy monkey feet you would understand. I decorated the house as tropical as i could on a budget.

Welcome to Party Central:

Our friend Jodi made Nolan a fabulous eggless, die free mango birthday cake with the most delicious dark chocolate cupcakes for all the guests. It turned out so cute, it was definitely a grand centerpiece. A close up of Nolan's cake on the top.

and the whole thing together. All the decorations are edible and delicious by the way.

Nolan finally got a taste of his first birthday cake. This beautiful cake went from this...

to this...

to this in just a few short minutes.

He had such a great time and I think he'll really enjoy this birthday thing. Now to start planning next year's party! I'm thinking trains.

Thank you to all of you that came to celebrate with us and for those of you that have been there for us this last year. We couldn't have gotten through this without your support and encouragement.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOLAN!